The World Bank and the home countries of corporations implicated in corruption in the Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme have many reasons to be shame-faced for the lack of support that Lesotho has been shown in its tenacious efforts to tackle corruption. At the very least the epitaph on the corruption and bribery trials needs to read that the conduct of international finance institutions and corporations in Lesotho must not be allowed to be repeated elsewhere.
Health equity in economic and trade policies
Time to listen to Lesotho! The World Bank's new anti-corruption agenda
Van Vuuren H: Bretton Woods Project, 11 September 2006
Glossary on the World Trade Organisation and public health: Part 2
Labonte R, Sanger M: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 60: 738-744, 2006
Part 1 of this glossary introduced different health and trade arguments, overviewed the history of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), defined key "trade talk" terms, and reviewed three WTO treaties concerned with trade in goods (GATT 1994, the Agreement on Agriculture, and the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures). Part 2 reviews five more agreements and the growing number of bilateral and regional trade agreements, and concludes with a commentary on different strategies proposed to ensure that health is not compromised by trade liberalisation treaties.
How do intellectual property law and international trade agreements affect access to ART?
Westerhaus M, Castro A: Plos Medicine, 3(8), 8 August 2006
This paper examines the key areas of concern regarding access to antiretroviral treatment (ART) related to US-negotiated bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade agreements. It examines developments in IP law in the wake of WTO's Doha Declaration, which affirmed the priority of public health over the protection of patents. It looks specifically at those developments with particular salience for health related issues and link this history with the current context of access to antiretrovirals (ARVs) worldwide. It further suggests policy and advocacy strategies to ensure and promote access to ART.
Poor company: The impact of British business on poor people
Curtis M, July 2006
The British Parliament is currently examining changes to company law in what some commentators have billed as potentially the largest shakeup in business law for 150 years. This report observes however that the law protects corporations from serious accountability for their activities, especially where their impact is harshest - on poor people overseas. This report brings evidence together on selected British company activities internationally summarising research by various NGOs, campaign groups and
others. It focuses on a select number of British companies and alleges a range of practices harmful to worker and community health.
G8 leaders call for more AIDS funding
Associated Press, 16 July 2006
In mid July 2006 Group of Eight leaders called for more AIDS funding to improve monitoring and to give more people access to treatment. However, Eric Friedman, policy adviser for Physicians for Human Rights, raised practical concerns, including the need to double the existing number of health care workers to improve the AIDS situation worldwide. The G8 agreement calls for "building the capacity of health care systems in poor countries through recruitment, training and deployment of public and private health workers," but Friedman said the statement does not say how those goals will be achieved.
G8 must engage China to tackle Africa's poverty
Darlington R, Mepham D: Institute for Public Policy Research, 3 July 2006
In advance of the anniversary of the G8 summit in Gleneagles (6-8 July), the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is urging G8 countries to rethink their development strategies for Africa in the light of China's growing role. David Mepham, head of ippr's International Programme, said: "...Managed well, China's economic presence could bring real benefits to Africa, with cheaper goods for African consumers and new sources of investment and aid. But managed badly, China's role in Africa could be damaging for development and worsen standards of governance and human rights.
Market forces promote inequitable health care
Sanders D, Reynolds L: The Sunday Independent, 16 July 2006
We are pleased that a paediatrician of the stature of Professor Oliver Ransome supports the argument in our letter that equitable distribution of health care is necessary for child health. But Professor Ransome also suggests that equitable distribution of health care can somehow be achieved without impinging on the freedom of those who can afford to choose private care. We challenge the view that such a market-based approach can promote equity in health care in South Africa today.
Understanding the links between agriculture and health
Hawkes C, Ruel MT: 2020 Vision for Food, Agriculture and the Environment 13 (1), May 2006
Policymaking initiatives in agriculture and public health are often pursued in a parallel and unconnected fashion. Yet coherent, joint action in agriculture and health could have large potential benefits and substantially reduce risks for the poor. Among development professionals there is growing recognition that agriculture influences health, and health influences agriculture, and that both in turn have profound implications for poverty reduction. This recognition suggests that opportunities exist for agriculture to contribute to better health, and for health to contribute to agricultural productivity. The policy briefs presented here draw on a wide body of research conducted within and outside the CGIAR. They provide a historical context to the links between agriculture and health, deal with specific health conditions and agricultural systems, and examine the challenges to linking agriculture and health in policy.
World leaders must deliver on AIDS promises
Dillon J: Toronto Star, 14 July 2006
Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy on AIDS in Africa, calls the failure of the G8 to live up to their promises a "scandalous betrayal". The triumphalism of Gleneagles has given way to shattered dreams and broken promises. At Gleneagles, the G8 promised to cancel the debt of some poor countries and to double development assistance to Africa by 2010. Both initiatives would provide resources for treating people with AIDS. Tragically, too little was promised at Gleneagles; even less has been delivered. By the time G8 leaders reconvened at St Petersburg this month, another 3 million people had perished from AIDS-related diseases.
Carmageddon: The hidden war between motor cars and people
Reynolds L: Critical Health Perspectives 3, June 2006
There is a silent, ongoing, global war between motor cars and people. It is silent because, though it kills many times more people than armed conflicts and terrorist acts combined, it seldom hits the headlines in the way they do. It is global because, though it started in the rich world just over a century ago, it has spread throughout the world and is now spreading like wildfire through poor countries;or poor communities within rich countries.